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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23893111">The Tragedy of the Skywalkers: The Jedi Killer and the Last Jedi</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reylo_of_light/pseuds/Reylo_of_light'>Reylo_of_light</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambigious teacher character, Day 2 Fairy tales, F/M, For Reylo Week 2020, My take on that anyway, Post TROS, They are the fairy tale, might not be right but oh well, says character death but i'll fix it, they are legend and story, think this is trash but still, you decide who it is</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:21:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,215</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23893111</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reylo_of_light/pseuds/Reylo_of_light</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Have you ever heard the Tragedy of the Skywalker family?<br/>What about the tragic story of the Jedi Killer and the Last Jedi?</p>
<p>Years after the Battle of Exegol, a teacher strives to teach their students about the hidden tragic tale of the Jedi Killer and the Last Jedi. How did the story really end? What is legend, and what is merely a fairy tale?</p>
<p>The story of the Jedi Killer and the Last Jedi is lost in legends, twisted and changed in tall tales, and ultimately, forgotten.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>REYLO WEEK 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Tragedy of the Skywalkers: The Jedi Killer and the Last Jedi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my piece for day 2 of Reylo week.<br/>It's rubbish but hey.<br/>Instead of retelling Reylo as a fairy tale, I wanted to try writing it as if their story is now told as fairy tale, but also, a true story.<br/>It made sense in my head.</p>
<p>Only been checked over by my other half. Thank you Mr Solo and I love you.</p>
<p>Enjoy if you can.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">The Tragedy of the Skywalkers</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The youngsters were restless. Too much energy and not nearly enough patience.</p>
<p>“Settle down!” their teacher ordered though it took several more minutes before the class were still.</p>
<p>“We know the history of the New Republic! Of how the galaxy found peace! We know about the First Order, The Resistance, The Jedi…” The students grumbled.</p>
<p>Oh yes… the war against First Order, it was a well told story.</p>
<p>The teacher sighed. Romanticised nonsense. So many forgot or ignored the other story within it. A much older war, between light and dark. A much more tragic tale.</p>
<p>They had seen with their own eyes how the tragedy had unfolded, but like so many others, they had not really seen or understood it until much later.</p>
<p>“Yes, you’ve been told the tales of the war, of triumph and heroics. And indeed, there were heroics… But as I get older… I wonder if it was such a triumph. Such high costs… So much tragedy.”</p>
<p>The youngsters cocked their heads, eyeing their teacher with curious looks.</p>
<p>“What do you mean? What tragedy?”</p>
<p>“My children… have you ever heard the Tragedy of The Skywalker family?”</p>
<p>A few students nodded.</p>
<p>“Anakin Skywalker, Vader… The twins Luke and Leia…”</p>
<p>“Yes… history likes to forget the others… Padme, Anakin’s wife… and if they once were afraid to speak of Anakin and Vader as one, even fewer tell now of the last Skywalker.”</p>
<p>“Luke?”</p>
<p>“No… his name was Ben. He was not a Skywalker in name, but in blood.”</p>
<p>“Who was Ben? What’s his story?”</p>
<p>“My children, it is not just Ben’s story. For Ben Skywalker Solo was better known as Kylo Ren.”</p>
<p>The youngsters gasped and a few frowned at this.</p>
<p>“Another Vader then.”</p>
<p>Their teacher offered a small smile of pity.</p>
<p>“No child, not another Vader. A broken child on a lost path. Ben’s story is a tragic one of eternal battle against light and dark. His story is entwined with that of what you know as the Last Jedi.”</p>
<p>“How?”</p>
<p>“They were a Dyad in the Force. Two that are one.”</p>
<p>“Are you going to tell us about them?”</p>
<p>“Yes. Gather round children, I will tell you the tragic tale of the Jedi Killer and the Last Jedi…”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“You know the stories of the First Order, of the war with the Resistance. You may even have heard some stories of the terrifying Kylo Ren. We need not discuss in detail the stories you already know. First, we must acknowledge how Ben Solo fell into darkness.<br/>They say Leia felt the darkness when her son was in utero… not his darkness, something else trying to claim her child. <br/>They say young Ben aspired to be a pilot like his father.<br/>That the boy was troubled by nightmares, that his parents feared he had ‘too much Vader in him’. They say the boy sensed his parents fear of the powers he had, that he could not fully control.<br/>The boy was sent to his uncle at age ten, unwillingly. The Jedi Master Luke was to train the boy. Ben was strong in the Force, but dark voices whispered in his head.”</p>
<p>“What were the voices?”</p>
<p>“The boy did not know, believed them to be a friend. Others did not understand him, feared him even.<br/>Yet young Ben never fell into darkness.”</p>
<p>“But Kylo Ren?”</p>
<p>“No one told Ben of his relation to the Sith Lord Vader. It was ratted out by a rival of his mother once. You can imagine how people reacted to the news. For Ben, this revelation must have been devastating.<br/>It was not until Ben was 23 standard years old that he started down his dark path. Ben believed all had given up on him. That he was only meant for darkness. He was a frightened boy.”</p>
<p>“What happened to turn him?”</p>
<p>“Ah, that is truly tragic. You see, history will tell us of the Jedi as great heroes, as peaceful and just people. But the Jedi can make mistakes too.<br/>And Luke was only human. Luke loved his family, he would do anything to protect them, even admitted that he considered killing his Father when he threatened his sister. <br/>Luke saw darkness in Ben, he saw what the voice in Ben’s head wanted him to see. He was afraid, he thought he could stop it, end the dark before it could become… But killing was never Luke’s way. He knew he could never kill his nephew. <br/>He was ashamed, but he was left with consequence. You see, Ben had awoken long enough to see his uncle stand over him with an ignited lightsaber. It was enough to convince Ben that he was not welcome here, that no one believed in his light. Thus Ben Solo began down the path that would lead to Kylo Ren.”</p>
<p>“Did he really kill all the students and burn the temple?”</p>
<p>“No… A far more evil being did, the same one who put the voices in Ben’s head. Ben was blamed for things he did not do.<br/>The story of the so-called Jedi Killer, and the Last Jedi, may never have come into being if not for a fateful day on a desert planet called Jakku. It was here that Kylo Ren came, searching for a map to Luke Skywalker, aiming to wipe out the Jedi. It is my belief that his arrival on this planet triggered a series of events. The first of which was an awakening beginning in a desert girl named Rey. Perhaps she may never have met Kylo had it not been for a Stormtrooper – FN2187 escaping with Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, and of course, an Astromech named BB8.<br/>In an effort to return BB8 to the Resistance, Rey and FN2187 or Finn, stole the Millenium Falcon and encountered Han Solo and Chewbacca. There are other details I could try and tell you, but what matters is their arrival on Takodana, for it was here that Rey was first confronted with the Skywalker saber, her destiny, her powers, and Kylo Ren.<br/>Here Rey was told that whoever she waited for on Jakku, was never going to return, but was given hope, she was told there was someone who still could come back.”</p>
<p>“Who?”</p>
<p>The teacher smiled.</p>
<p>“Rey was frightened by all this, wanted no part of it, and ran. In the forest, she met Kylo Ren. She intrigued him, and she had seen the map to Skywalker, so he carried her to his ship.<br/>It was on Starkiller Base that he interrogated her. Kylo Ren searched her mind, unknowingly, this likely helped forge their bond, for she pushed back into his mind. Her powers were growing and she escaped.<br/>You all know the tragedy that comes after she reunites with Finn and Han…”</p>
<p>“Han Solo is killed by Kylo Ren and he fights the Jedi in the forest!”</p>
<p>“Yes… Ben Solo was always his father’s son, with his father’s heart. It was his father leaving and not understanding the Force that had hurt young Ben. He believed killing his father would complete his path to the darkside, would end the pain and the torment of being torn between his family and the light and the dark.<br/>Ben Solo was wrong. It only tore him further apart. The act split his spirit further, just as his family lightsaber, wielded by the last Jedi had split his face. The Force perhaps, was the cause of the chasm that separated them after this, needing them both.</p>
<p>Yet this was merely the beginning of their tale.</p>
<p>The Force saw fit to connect them across the galaxy. A bond unseen before. They could see each other, feel each other, but could not hurt the other or see the others surroundings.<br/>Rey had gone to Skywalker and yet, it was her connection to Kylo Ren that drove her most.<br/>Though Skywalker taught her three lessons, he had cut off from the Force, he punished himself, he believed the Jedi had to end. And he feared the power of Rey as he had feared Ben’s.”</p>
<p>“What did Rey do? Is this where she became a jedi?”</p>
<p>“Yes, and no. The dark called to Rey, offering her answers. She went to a cave in search of answers, only to get none. It was after this that Rey reached out to Kylo, and across galaxies, the Jedi Killer consoled the Last Jedi, their hands connected, a bond established, a vision seen, and hope lit. Caught and confronted by Luke, Rey challenged him, having learned the truth of the night at the temple, where Luke tried to kill Ben. Luke confessed he considered it. Rey believed Ben Solo was the last hope of the galaxy and went to him on board the Supremacy.”</p>
<p>“Wait, I don’t remember this story… I thought Admiral Holdo destroyed the Supremacy in a noble sacrifice? And that Kylo killed Snoke for power?”</p>
<p>“No young ones… Kylo Ren met Rey, she was taken captive to see Snoke. But Snoke tortured Rey for information and ordered Kylo to kill her. He made a different choice, tricking his old master and cutting him down with the family saber before bringing it forth to Rey. They fought together against the guards, fierce and powerful. A dyad eternal. Oh yes, they were something. But neither was truly ready to face the music so to speak.<br/>Ben wanted Rey to join him, to create a new order, to let the past die.<br/>Rey wanted Ben to save the Resistance and leave with her.<br/>Though Kylo offered Rey his hand, and though she wanted to take it, she instead reached for the legacy saber, and he reached to retrieve it. The saber refused to go to one or the other, The Force between them too strong, it split the saber in two and blasted them back.”</p>
<p>“Rey went to Crait though… She saved the Resistance… And Kylo fought Luke…”</p>
<p>“He fought an illusion. He attacked Luke with years of anger and resentment, though he could do him no harm really. Luke had used every ounce of strength to project himself there, and passed on peacefully, knowing he had done all he could. Rey did indeed save the Resistance, but the bond she shared with Ben was still there.”</p>
<p>“So the First Order hunted her, because she was blamed for killing Snoke? And as the Jedi of the Resistance? But Rey hid the truth from the Resistance?”</p>
<p>“We must believe she hid many things. She continued to train but told none of their shared bond. Kylo learned they were a dyad, he learned of Palpatine’s return. He sought him out and learned about who the Last Jedi really was.”</p>
<p>“We know how he chased her, ordered to kill her. How she, Finn and Poe went in search of a Sith Wayfinder, to take them to Exegol. About the battle there…”</p>
<p>“Yes, but there are parts you do not know. Kylo revealed that Rey was the grand-daughter of Palpatine.”</p>
<p>“No!”</p>
<p>“Yes… Though in a way… no. Her father had been a clone created for Palpatine. He had married and had a child, Rey. Though neither he nor his wife had the Force, Rey did. Palpatine sought her out.</p>
<p>They fought on the Death Star wreck after Rey was confronted with a vision of her dark self, after Kylo destroyed the other Wayfinder.</p>
<p>Leia reached out across the galaxy, she knew she was dying and made one last attempt to reach her son. It was at this point, that the Last Jedi used Kylo Ren’s own lightsaber and drove it into him.”</p>
<p>“WHAT? She killed Kylo?”</p>
<p>“I knew that, the Last Jedi killed the Jedi Killer.”</p>
<p>“Indeed, Rey killed Kylo Ren… But the moment she had done it, Rey regretted it.”</p>
<p>Confused looks followed.</p>
<p>“She killed Kylo Ren, but healed Ben Solo. She used the Force to heal his wound, she told him she had wanted to take his hand – Ben’s hand, not Kylo. She was so horrified by what she had done, that she took his ship to Ahch-To and burned it, intending to destroy the lightsaber and live in exile.”</p>
<p>“But then… what happened to Ben?”</p>
<p>“Ben was faced with a memory. His father, Han. It was during this reunion, albeit, in his mind, that Ben Solo truly let Kylo Ren die, casting his saber into the turbid sea, ready to do what he knew he had to do.”</p>
<p>“What did he have to do?”</p>
<p>“We shall get there. You have all been told I presume, how the Last Jedi led the Resistance to Exegol? How they fought against the Final Order? How she defeated Palpatine?”</p>
<p>They nodded.</p>
<p>“No one really knows what happened down there… Rey emerged from it alone, Palpatine dead, as the last Jedi. This story has been told many ways, romanticised… but Rey would tell you a different story.”</p>
<p>Their eyes were wide and they clung to every word.</p>
<p>“She would tell you how she was about to give in, to become Sith Empress Rey, to save the Resistance who were being destroyed, she had been about to give up when the Force connected her to Ben Solo. He had come to Exegol for her, with nothing but a blaster on his hip and the recklessness he inherited from his father.</p>
<p>He was her hope, instead of raising the saber to strike down Palpatine and take his place, she gave the saber, through the Force, to Ben. He took down the Knights of Ren, came to Rey’s side and they prepared to fight together. It was not to be. Palpatine sought to use their bond and did so, making himself stronger before casting Ben into a pit. Rey ended Palpatine, the voices of the Jedi who came before her ringing in her ears. She would tell you the effort drained her. She would tell you that killing Palpatine, killed her. The Last Jedi collapsed lifeless to the floor.”</p>
<p>“No! That’s not how it happened… she survived and…”</p>
<p>“Patience child. The Last Jedi did indeed fall lifeless. Ben Solo sensed this too, he could not feel her in the Force as he dragged himself, broken and bloodied from that pit. He crawled across to her body and held her close. You see, Ben had realised that Rey was his light. He could not bear to see her light extinguished. The Jedi Killer had fallen in love with the Last Jedi. He used the Force to save her, to bring her back.”</p>
<p>“He did? I thought that was impossible!”</p>
<p>“That’s so romantic!”</p>
<p>“It would seem romantic. Rey awoke, her eyes finding Ben, the Ben she believed in, that she had fallen in love with. She realised, he was her belonging, her home. He was the one who was promised to come back when she was on Takondana. The two shared a kiss, a smile. Hope.”</p>
<p>“Oh how wonderful! A love story amidst the war! Why don’t they ever tell that story?!”</p>
<p>“But wait… I thought the Last Jedi emerged alone… arrived alone…”</p>
<p>“That can’t be, they’re together and in love so…”</p>
<p>“She did come out alone. The tragedy of this tale is that Ben gave Rey all his life Force. Only a moment after their kiss, after he graced her with his first smile for over a decade, Ben fell and his body faded from existence, leaving Rey alone.”</p>
<p>“That’s so sad!”</p>
<p>“Yes, Rey was alone. She returned to the Resistance, but not for long. She travelled to Tatooine to bury the sabers of the Skywalker family, to lay the legacy to rest.”</p>
<p>“What happened then?”</p>
<p>“Well, the story most will tell you is that Rey took the Skywalker name, became the Last Jedi, and went off to follow her Jedi calling. Some will tell you that the Jedi who began her story alone on a desert planet, ended it alone on another desert planet.”</p>
<p>“Those all seem really quite sad. Is that really what happened? Does the story really end with such tragedy?”</p>
<p>“No one saw Rey again not long after that.”</p>
<p>“So she could have died alone there?”</p>
<p>“Some believe so.”</p>
<p>“And you? What do you believe?”</p>
<p>The teacher smiled, turning their gaze to look out the window, thinking of an island on a planet somewhere else in the galaxy…</p>
<p>And island where the Force is strong, where it is in everything. And island with powerful light, powerful dark.</p>
<p>An island where a lonely scavenger first connected with a lonely Prince.</p>
<p>“Me? Well… I do not believe their story is as tragic as history tells us…”</p>
<p>
  <em>Ahch-To, alive with vibrant colour and young ones. Spring has come and young Porgs are hatching everywhere, flowers are exploding into colour and the sky is warming and bright.</em>
</p>
<p>“I believe the Last Jedi died on Exegol and Rey was saved by Ben. I believe he was lost to her, that she left alone, went to Tatooine alone, and buried the tragic legacy of the Skywalkers alone.”</p>
<p>
  <em>A woman looks out at the cliffs, watching porgs return to nests to feed crying hungry mouths. She feels the wind blow a gentle breeze through her hair. She remembers how she used to tie it in three buns. There is a staff by her side, a secret function hidden within it, but she has not used it that way for years.</em>
</p>
<p>“But what happened to the last jedi after that?”</p>
<p>“Well… I think she was hurt. The Force had taken the other half of her soul from her, she was one half of a Dyad. And I believe she had questions. I believe she went looking for answers.”</p>
<p>“Answers about what?”</p>
<p>“A world between worlds. About the Dyad. About her missing half.”</p>
<p>
  <em>She turns her gaze towards the dark hole that led to the mirror cave. It had been frightening once. No more. She’d gone there for answers twice. Both times, the answer had been the same. But the first time, she had not understood it. The second time, she had refused to let it be kept from her.</em>
</p>
<p>“Do you think she found the answers?”</p>
<p>“Oh yes…”</p>
<p>
  <em>She remembered how she had reached out, how she had smashed the mirror, how she’d searched between worlds.</em>
</p>
<p>“So? What did she find?”</p>
<p>Again, the teacher smiled.</p>
<p>“Everything.”</p>
<p>
  <em>“Sweetheart?” She turns at the sound of her husband’s voice. A smile breaks out over her face and she wraps her arms around him. “Is everything ok, sweetheart?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Yes… I have you.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>An indignant squeak makes her laugh. She looks behind her husband and finds the dark hair and hazel eyes of their precious children.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“And I have both of you!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>They smile and come forward to be scooped up and cuddled by their parents.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ben holds their young daughter Hope, now seven years old with relative ease, one arm around his wife. Rey embraces their eleven-year-old son, Grayson.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“What are you thinking about mum?” He asks her, sensing her emotions in the Force.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Just our story, how we got to be here.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Isn’t it a sad story?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Some of it… But it is happy now.” She kisses his head before leaning into her husband and looking back out at the sky and the ocean. “And really, that’s the only story that matters."</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for trying this.</p>
<p>Please leave kudos or comment if you enjoyed.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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